DAP zooms lens on Sabah, Sarawak
GEORGE TOWN (Dec 15, 2012): In a move to garner support for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in the Malaysian states in Borneo during the 13th general elections, the DAP is proposing that oil royalties be increased to 20 per cent from the current five per cent.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the increase in petroleum monies to Sabah and Sarawak could help in upgrading and establishing new infrastructure in the two states.
Other measures that the opposition pact is counting on to increase its electoral support in those states are to ensure that native customary land rights are upheld, and to wipe out poverty.
"We demand the end to the cabotage policy that has been one of the causes of high consumer prices,"
he said in his speech during the party's 16th national congress on Saturday.
The proposals underscore the importance of the two states for both PR and the Barisan Nasional (BN) which the latter has perceived as "fixed deposits" for the past 50-odd years.
However, support for the ruling coalition is perceived to be slowly eroding as unhappiness over natives losing their ancestral land due to logging and huge infrastructure projects, high rate of poverty and under-development rise.
Realising the opportunity to gain an advantage over their BN rivals, the DAP has been on various road shows in Sabah and Sarawak to drum up support for their cause.
Lim indicated that DAP party activities have begun to show fruit, saying that the party was confident it could gain at least 10 parliamentary seats in Sarawak in the next general elections.
"We might also see the party's first elected representative from the Dayak community," he said to applause from the Borneo states' delegates, and added that a PR federal government would recognise the spirit of equal partnership espoused in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.
Aaron Ngui
Tiada ulasan:
Catat Ulasan